cúlghabhálach

Irish

Etymology

From cúl (“back”) +‎ gabhálach (“receptive”).

Adjective

cúlghabhálach (genitive singular masculine cúlghabhálaigh, genitive singular feminine cúlghabhálaí, plural cúlghabhálacha, not comparable)

1. (law) retroactive
2. (law enforcement) retrospective

   Synonym: iarghabhálach

Declension

Declension of cúlghabhálach

	singular		plural (m/f)
Positive	masculine	feminine	(strong noun)	(weak noun)
nominative	cúlghabhálach	chúlghabhálach	cúlghabhálacha; chúlghabhálacha2
vocative	chúlghabhálaigh		cúlghabhálacha
genitive		cúlghabhálaí	cúlghabhálacha	cúlghabhálach
dative	cúlghabhálach; chúlghabhálach1	chúlghabhálach; chúlghabhálaigh (archaic)	cúlghabhálacha; chúlghabhálacha2
Comparative	(not comparable)
Superlative	(not comparable)

¹ When the preceding noun is lenited and governed by the definite article.
² When the preceding noun ends in a slender consonant.

Related terms

• cúlghabhálacht

Mutation

Mutated forms of cúlghabhálach

radical	lenition	eclipsis
cúlghabhálach	chúlghabhálach	gcúlghabhálach

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “cúlghabhálach”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• “cúlghabhálach”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024